Further reading
This list is shamelessly copied from the "recommended reading" list maintained by the Community and Safety team at GitHub 💖
Studies
- Anyone can be a troll - Shorter version here
- Study done on how mood and environment can turn anyone into a troll
- Are sex differences in antisocial and prosocial Facebook use explained by narcissism and relational self-construal? - Shorter version here
- Study done on gender and narcissm in toxic comments
- Gender differences and bias in open source: Pull request acceptance of women versus men
- A study on how gender affects open source contributions
- Online Harassment 2017
- Latest results from Pew Research regarding online harassment
- Online Harassment, Defamation, and Hateful Speech: A Primer of the Legal Landscape
- A comprehensive look at laws in the US regarding online harassment, for non-lawyers
- Pew Research on Online Harassment
- Handy statistics on who gets harassed along gender and age (not race, though)
- The Rhetorical Dynamics of Gender Harassment On-Line
- Study on gendered harassment in IRC channels in the 1990s
- You Can’t Stay Here: The Efficacy of Reddit’s 2015 Ban
Examined Through Hate Speech | Shorter version here
- Study on the efficacy of banning destructive behavior -- We find that the ban worked for Reddit. More accounts than expected discontinued using the site; those that stayed drastically decreased their hate speech usage—by at least 80%. Though many subreddits saw an influx of
r/fatpeoplehateandr/CoonTown“migrants,” those subreddits saw no significant changes in hate speech usage. In other words, other subreddits did not inherit the problem.
- Study on the efficacy of banning destructive behavior -- We find that the ban worked for Reddit. More accounts than expected discontinued using the site; those that stayed drastically decreased their hate speech usage—by at least 80%. Though many subreddits saw an influx of
- Open Source Survey
- Open source survey on harassment, documentation, and licensing and how it affects open source contribution
- Community Interaction and Conflict on the Web
- Less than 1% of internet communities start 74% of conflicts [which then lead to] echo chambers... and cause long-term adverse affects and reduce activity [on online platforms]. This study also covers a predictive model for online conflict
Books
- Autobiography of a Recovering Skinhead
- Autobiography of the leader of the Neo Nazi movement in the 1990s, this story follows what led to his descent into hate and what brought him back out
- Haters: Harassment, Abuse, and Violence Online
- In-depth look into the history of online harassment, the underlying causes of hate mobs, and how to contain it
- The Internet of Garbage
- Insight into how online communities have become toxic waste dumping grounds and what role communities need to play in helping make sure their users are safe
- Smart Girl's Guide to Privacy
- Practical tips to stay safe on the internet, for all genders
Comics
- The Oatmeal: Backfire Effect
- Webcomic exploring the backfire effect and why people have trouble believing facts they find threatening
Articles & Blog Posts
- The Aesthetics of the Alt-Right
- Long, in-depth analysis at the alt-right and fascist movement
- Codes of Conduct: Maybe They're Not So Bad?
- Deconstruction of many of the arguments against OSS projects adopting codes of conduct
- Dissecting Trump's Most Rabid Online Following
- Using machine learning to dissect what main interests unite Trump followers on Reddit
- The Distress of the Privileged
- In-depth look into why tolerance of intolerance is not the same as oppression
- Explaining privilege to a broke white person
- Great primer on how to explain privilege and intersectionality
- How do you set metrics?
- Good section on building successful communities at Facebook by defining aspirations
- How Trolls Are Ruining the Internet
- Who are most likely to be trolls? (Spoiler alert: not bored teenagers in a basement!)
- The paradox of tolerance
- Explanation of why intolerance not being tolerated is not itself intolerant
- The Real Name Fallacy
- Well-cited debunking of the idea that removing anonymity reduces online harrassment
- The Secret Rules of the Internet: The murky history of moderation, and how it’s shaping the future of free speech
- Unpacking the tolls of content moderation, its effects on the people who do it, and evolving content moderation strategies
- The Simple Psychological Trick to Political Persuasion
- Explores how to have difficult conversations with people about politics without them shutting down (useful for discussing social change and "free speech" activists)
- We can all help with Overwatch’s toxicity — but Blizzard must lead
- Discussing why "players should watch their behavior" isn't enough. Companies must provide the resources for developers to build moderation tools in order to foster healthy communities
- Unpacking the invisible backpack
- Great primer on understanding privilege because it's often difficult to see what others don't have if you take what you got for granted
- The Polyannish Assumption
- Assuming that everything is mostly good but for some bad apples allow harassment to continue. A more realistic approach is believe humanity is capable of both good and bad.
- This is How to Build a Troll-Free Online Community
- Good example of setting up community guidelines and enforcing them
Lessons learned
- Anonymity and Abuse Reports
- A look at how Cloudflare reacted to allegations that they passed contact information from abuse reports to alt-right hate mobs
Videos
- Why are you so angry? "The Good Guy"
- Deconstructs why people become angry when there is a perceived attack on their identity (i.e. gamers feeling personally attacked by Anita Sarkeesian's analysis of sexism in games)
Resources
- ADL's hate symbols database
- Database of commonly used hate symbols
- Crash Override Network
- Crisis helpline and advocacy group for those experiencing online harassment
- HackBlossom
- Privacy resources for domestic abuse victims
- Undox.me
- Helpful tools to take down nonconsensual nude photos
- Staying Safe When You Say #MeToo
- ACLU's guide to staying safe on the internet (longer version here
- Stop datamining me
- A directory of Opt-Out links to stop data brokers from selling your personal information.
- Delete me
- Commercial service if you get hacked
- Speak Up & Stay Safe(r):
- Feminist Frequency's guide to staying safe
Other sites doing great things
- Engadget's community guidelines
- Excellent example of how other sites handle community guidelines
- Pinterest's content moderation guide
- Visual representation of what content is and is not allowed on Pinterest
- LinkedIn's Professional Community Policies
- Good definition of how to keep it professional